The House bill is crucial to building the momentum and progress towards using penalties paid by BP and others responsible for last year’s Gulf oil disaster to restore the region’s economy, ecology and communities.  The RESTORE Gulf Coast States Act of 2011 was introduced this week and now has 23 other bipartisan leaders as co-sponsors. The New York Times editorial board has also weighed in on the issue, standing firmly behind the efforts. 

“This action by the House, led by Representative Scalise, is yet another critical stage for this important legislation that will help Gulf Coast businesses create thousands of new jobs and restore natural resources that so many depend on for their livelihoods,” said Minor Sinclair, director of Oxfam’s US Regional Office.  “The House introduction of the RESTORE Act combined with Senate action on the bill last month, means the momentum for its passage continues.”

The community groups in the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi working with Oxfam America are Zion Travelers Cooperative Center (ZTCC), Bayou Grace, Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organization (BISCO), Coastal Women for Change (CWC), Steps Coalition, and Terrebone Readiness & Assistance Coalition (TRAC).  All of them have all contributed greatly to garnering support for the RESTORE Act.

The bill has overwhelming public support.  A recent, national survey of likely voters shows 83 percent support a proposal to direct fines paid by BP and other parties responsible for the Gulf oil spill back to the affected areas for restoration and renewal.

“By funding worker training, we can create vital jobs in a tough economy for working families by building the resiliency of our most vulnerable communities and ecosystems. This is a powerful example of how legislators on both sides of the aisle can still work together on big national challenges. Opinion-shapers have taken notice and we hope the U.S. House moves quickly to pass this common sense legislation. We thank Representative Scalise and all the co-sponsors of the bill for pushing this forward,” said Sinclair.

“This is a bipartisan bill which will bring historic investments in increasing the resilience of some of our nation’s communities most vulnerable to natural and man-made disaster along America’s Gulf Coast,” said Minor Sinclair, program director of Oxfam’s US regional office.  “The bill would create potentially tens of thousands of jobs and retrain workers to build new pathways out of poverty for working families, including those whose livelihoods were impacted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  We congratulate EPW Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer for the quick action on the bill and hope it will move quickly to the Senate floor and that the House will follow suit.”

“This is an important step in the process of bringing much needed resources to the Gulf.  Every day we live with the aftermath of the oil spill.  This bill would mean crucial economic and ecosystem restoration.” said Rev. Tyrone Edwards of the Zion Travelers Cooperative Center, a Gulf Coast community group. Other  local organizations on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi—Bayou Grace, Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organization (BISCO), Coastal Women for Change (CWC), Steps Coalition, and Terrebone Readiness & Assistance Coalition (TRAC)—have all contributed greatly to garnering support for the RESTORE Act.

Sen. Mary Landrieu is spearheading the effort on the RESTORE Act (S. 1400) and is joined by eight other Gulf Coast senators as co-sponsors.  The investments will build the resilience of the communities and help restore critical protections within the coastal ecosystem.

The bill has overwhelming public support.  A recent, national survey of likely voters shows 83 percent support a proposal to direct fines paid by BP and other parties responsible for the Gulf oil spill back to the affected areas for restoration and renewal. 

“There has never been a greater need, nor a greater opportunity to develop a regional plan such as this legislation to help build more resilient coastal communities across America’s Gulf Coast, creating tens of thousands of new livelihood opportunities in the process,” said Paul O’Brien, vice president for policy and campaigns for Oxfam America. 

“In addition to historic investments in restoring ecosystems, this legislation will help those most impacted by the oil spill, from low-income communities and industries like commercial fishing, to gain the skills they need to find good-paying work restoring critical natural resources. This legislation ensures local communities benefit not just ecologically but economically by promoting the hiring of local workers and use of local companies in projects to restore our coastline,” O’Brien said. “By investing in science and technology innovation, this bill can help the Gulf Coast to develop new industries to tackle water management and coastal protection challenges of the future across the globe.”

Currently, the Gulf Coast is home to over 80 percent of the United States’ annual coastal erosion, and almost half of annual wetlands loss, degrading billions of dollars worth of natural flood protection for coastal communities. The region’s fishery supports over $23B in economic activity, all of which remains threatened by the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon spill and decades of environmental degradation.

Nearly 500 miles – almost half – of the coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida that was contaminated by the Gulf oil disaster remains oiled one year later, according to the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.

The coalition of groups, working together as the Gulf Renewal Project, support the Oil Commission’s recommendation that 80% of Clean Water Act (CWA) penalties to be paid by BP and other responsible parties go directly to Gulf restoration, to help the region recover economically and environmentally from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and past degradation.  Directing the CWA penalties specifically to Gulf restoration will require specific action by Congress.  Otherwise, the CWA penalties automatically will be deposited in the Federal Treasury. 

“The Gulf Caucus will play a key role in ensuring that the people, the economies and the ecosystems of the Gulf Region get the help they need to recover from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and decades of damage from hurricanes and other factors,” said the joint statement by Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Ocean Conservancy, Oxfam America, and The Nature Conservancy.  “The damage from the oil spill is still causing harm to the Gulf culture, economy and environment of the region, and the health of the Gulf ecosystem and the health of our economy are directly linked.  Congress must act this year to make good on promises made to the Gulf to ensure the region gets the help it deserves.”

The Gulf region is a vital part of the nation’s economy:

• The Gulf currently supports a $34 billion a year tourism industry, and its fisheries support an estimated $22.6 billion dollars in seafood, commercial and recreational fishing related activity.

• The Gulf produces 40 percent of all the seafood in the lower 48 states.

• The region is home to ten of our nation’s 14 largest ports by tonnage. More than 25 percent of the nation's waterborne exports pass through Louisiana ports alone.

The organizations working together for restoration as the Gulf Renewal Project include:

Environmental Defense Fund
National Audubon Society
National Wildlife Federation
The Nature Conservancy
Ocean Conservancy
Oxfam America

The report, co-written with former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Phillip Singerman, builds on analysis of agencies across the region to detail how a well-designed economic and workforce development plan – hinged on coastal restoration – can build on the region’s existing assets and leverage incoming federal funding to spark innovation and collaboration,  putting Gulf Coast communities to work. The report also examines how stakeholder participation in restoration legislation could strengthen local support, identify risks, and reduce costs.

“Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, together with the Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe delivered a one-two-three punch to the Gulf Coast, highlighting the region’s economic and environmental vulnerabilities, but also the incredible resilience and determination of its residents,” said Kate Gordon, vice president of energy policy with the Center for American Progress and co-author of the report. “The region has an opportunity, and if done right, recovery can diversify the Gulf economy while promoting innovation, creating jobs and protecting communities”.

The BP oil disaster demonstrated the dependence of the economy and jobs on a healthy, functioning Gulf of Mexico, according to the report, but policy makers can turn the Coast’s vulnerability into assets by investing in a cutting-edge set of industries around coastal and marine science along with resiliency technologies capable of competing in a growing global marketplace. In fact, the insurance company SwissRe predicts annual international investments in coastal protection and water management to reach as high as $135 billion annually in the coming years.

“We need to confront the false choice between promoting business, communities and the environment in the Gulf,” said Paul O’Brien, Vice President of Policy and Campaigns, Oxfam America. “Lasting coastal restoration depends on all three working together.”

The advocacy groups also called on Congress to pass legislation redirecting Clean Water Act fines from the Deepwater Horizon disaster towards a coastal restoration plan that also focuses on innovation and increased economic opportunity connected to coastal and marine restoration. Such funds, in combination with funds raised through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) and the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), could substantially address the region’s coastal vulnerability while creating new economic opportunities. 

“America’s Gulf Coast is under assault and Washington must join Coastal states and take action,” said Rev. Tyronne Edwards, founder of Zion Travelers Cooperative Center in Phoenix, Louisiana. “It is crucial that our Congress develops a plan that gives our communities a voice and helps workers in our coastal communities find opportunity.” 

To read the report, go here.

The New Pornographers saw the plight of Gulf Coast residents rapidly falling out of news headlines.  To help maintain and raise awareness for the affects of the oil spill, the band partnered with Oxfam and the organization’s Emmy-Award winning director to create a video for “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk.”

“That’s one of the main reasons for this video…to do something for a situation that might be falling out of the news,” said Carl Newman of The New Pornographers.  “But it’s still a big problem that people need to remember…both cleaning up Katrina and the oil spill.”

In March 2010, one month before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Oxfam launched its Coastal Communities Initiative which focuses on elevating the voices of socially-vulnerable Gulf Coast communities in the protection of the coast, which is their home and source of livelihoods.  Oxfam says this disaster has highlighted the fact that in the Gulf Coast, livelihoods, poverty, and vulnerability to disaster are intertwined with the health of the environment.

“To see New Orleans and the outlying areas go through Katrina and then have the Gulf oil spill a couple of years later, it’s just such a devastating series of events,” said Neko Case of The New Pornographers. “And there’s a lot of culture, and a lot of peoples’ hearts in that place… we really need to support them and show them we haven’t forgotten.”

According to Oxfam, fines levied against BP could result in billions of investment dollars, and a real opportunity to aid the region.  Oxfam is building a campaign with local partners for the region’s long-term restoration and recovery. The focus of this work will be on mobilizing support for issues including job creation and restoration.

“The Gulf Coast oil spill is making year-end lists right now as one of the biggest stories of the year.  But come January 2, we can’t let the most vulnerable people in this area be forgotten,” said Bob Ferguson, senior advisor for music outreach at Oxfam America.  “We're thrilled that The New Pornographers are working with us to make sure that doesn’t happen. Oxfam America's music outreach has proven to be a great way for us to connect with music fans, spread the word of our important work and find new support.”

For natural disasters, this assessment of risk is based on detailed modeling and analysis of historical data on the frequency and severity of all manner of disasters. In this report, we examine how homeland security policy could be revised to accommodate climate change impacts on socially vulnerable populations in the Mississippi Delta region and the Gulf Coast, building on the 2009 Oxfam America report, "Exposed: Social vulnerability and climate change in the US Southeast."

Released today, “America’s Gulf Coast: A Long Term Recovery Plan After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” calls for investing unprecedented federal resources, as high as $21B,  in ecosystem restoration critical to the survival of coastal communities. The plan also urged the creation of a council, led by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, to coordinate federal and state agencies’ restoration efforts.

While hopeful about plans urging Congress to create a recovery fund with civil penalties and leveraging contracting opportunities to create new jobs locally, Gulf residents who have been working since the first days of the disaster expressed concerns about notable gaps, including the need for greater citizen participation and targeting of resources towards economic opportunities towards the needs of socially vulnerable communities, those families who continue to face disproportionate impacts of disasters.

Rhonda Jackson, director, Oxfam America’s Gulf Coast Recovery Program, New Orleans, LA -
“Nearly six months after the spill, many Gulf workers and business owners are still struggling to get back on their feet.  America needs a healthy Gulf Coast and this plan has the potential to create tens of thousands of new livelihood opportunities restoring coastal ecosystems and building more resilient communities . We encourage the Council to target investments in training and economic development to assist vulnerable Gulf Coast communities, especially fisherfolk, low income workers and people of color, in finding pathways towards opportunity in these new markets.”

Patty Whitney, organizer, Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing, Thibodaux, LA –
“We are excited to have a leader like Administrator Jackson, who intimately understands the environmental injustices facing our communities, now leading the charge. Still we believe this plan does not give those communities most vulnerable to disaster, be it an oil spill or a deadly hurricane, a voice in the decision-making process. We hope Administrator Jackson and Congress will act immediately to create a Gulf Coast citizen stakeholder committee to ensure decisions made that affect us here on the coast, should include people on the coast.”

Reverend Tyronne Edwards, Zion Travelers Community Center, Phoenix, LA –
“The plan is right to call on contracting to promote opportunity. One of the keys moving forward is to make sure that contracts go to local business owners and to make sure local workers are hired. The people on the coast have tremendous resolve to build back, and we will do it again. But public and private support is critical to rebuilding and reducing vulnerability to both environmental and man-made disasters.”

Roberta Avila, director, Steps Coalition, Biloxi, MS –
“By far the most encouraging initiatives that arose in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were driven by citizens and nonprofits across the Gulf Coast and were aimed at helping promote community renewal and recovery. This is a tremendous opportunity to support those same community driven initiatives that have proven most successful.”

A report released August 24 by Oxfam America and signed by more than 100 Gulf Coast organizations, “One Gulf, Resilient Gulf,” www.oxfamamerica.org/onegulf, outlines critical recommendations for coastal community recovery, and components that they would encourage the Council to support moving forward. These steps include

-  The development of new livelihood opportunities through long-term federal investments in ecosystem restoration, climate adaptation and clean, renewable energy to build more resilient coastal communities;
- Ensuring that new jobs are decent jobs, avoiding “low-road” contracting practices and promoting sustainable jobs and working conditions;
- Supporting community-based scalable transitional workforce and enterprise development programs with successful track records;
- Ensuring any governance structure builds upon past planning and prioritizes community participation, accountability, transparency and streamlining of project implementation;
- And adequate funding is provided through proposals including eliminating tax loop holes, and tax deductions for oil spillers and directing these revenues along with federal fines and liabilities related to the BP Horizon Disaster towards a Gulf Coast Community Resiliency Fund.
These and other steps outlined in the report will help the region recover from yet another disaster.

The full report can be found at www.OxfamAmerica.org/OneGulf.

On the eve of the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the expected release of Sec. Ray Mabus’ Gulf Coast Recovery Plan, residents and advocates who have been responding to the disaster are calling for a recovery plan that addresses the core needs of those who have lived through both disasters and ensures that the status quo of degradation, inaction, and vulnerability is no longer be accepted.

“Gulf Coast citizens and community advocacy groups are more than just resilient, we are visionary,” said Derrick Evans, adviser to the Gulf Coast Fund for Ecological Health and Community Renewal and founder of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives. “After the hurricanes of 2005 and 2008, and the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster, we heed President Obama’s call to forge local experience and community wisdom into recommendations for the Administration’s regional recovery plan. Representatives from diverse groups across the gulf coast have responded by developing and endorsing these recommendations for community-led economic, environmental and social recovery”

Aaron Viles, Campaign Director for the Gulf Restoration Network, said the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is the best time for the nation to commit to the Gulf Coast.

“On the five year anniversary of Katrina and the devastating 2005 hurricane season it's well past time for the nation to commit to a true restoration vision and plan for the central Gulf, long the nation's energy sacrifice zone,” said Viles.

The report outlines key components for a successful recovery effort, including:

- The development of new livelihood opportunities through long-term federal investments in ecosystem restoration, climate adaptation and clean, renewable energy to build more resilient coastal communities;
- Ensuring that new jobs are decent jobs, avoiding “low-road” contracting practices and promoting sustainable jobs and working conditions;
- Supporting community-based scalable transitional workforce and enterprise development programs with successful track records;
- Ensuring any governance structure builds upon past planning and prioritizes community participation, accountability, transparency and streamlining of project implementation;
- And adequate funding is provided through proposals including eliminating tax loop holes, and tax deductions for oil spillers and directing these revenues along with federal fines and liabilities related to the BP Horizon Disaster towards a Gulf Coast Community Resiliency Fund.

These and other steps outlined in the report will help the region recover from yet another disaster. One of the Gulf’s greatest assets is the innovation and resourcefulness of its people. By far the most encouraging initiatives that arose in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were driven by citizens and nonprofits across the Gulf Coast and were aimed at helping promote community renewal and recovery. Projects helping communities reimagine their future, create jobs, start new social enterprises and rebuild their homes, and led by community and faith-based nonprofits, gave a glimpse of the promise of what communities could do with proper resources.

“First with Katrina and now with the BP oil spill, the recovery of the Gulf Coast has depended far too much on the resiliency of individuals and families in the region,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “Alongside community resolve to build back stronger, what is needed are appropriate private and public investments that reduce the vulnerability and create a roadmap to recovery. Communities are showing the way:  it’s time for others to make their contributions count.”

With the well site now capped, it is critical to address the disaster's short- and long-term challenges, as well as the historical problems it has intensified, with a plan that offers opportunity for the many people suffering economically, ensures that those affected have a voice, and recognizes the teachable moment from this disaster to catalyze a transition towards promoting investments and industries across the Gulf that build coastal community resiliency.

“See, with a storm, (there’s) damage and you come back, you know,” Duncan said recently while mending a hole in one of his fishing nets in Venice, LA. “This here is different than a storm .First time we ever had something like this. (With a storm) if people lost their job and didn’t have their job, they come and fish. This here is the life of the people here, fishing. This is their lifeline here. A lot of people make their living and survive with their fishing.”

Duncan has spent the past five years trying to rebuild his life since Hurricane Katrina swept through Louisiana. And although the storm was severe, he suffered the most damage afterwards when a private company from New York, hired by the Coast Guard, came through Venice and began delivering on their mandate to lift swamped boats like Duncan’s from the water. Instead of cloth ties, the company used metal cables for the task, destroying the fiberglass hull on Duncan’s boat and dozens of others—before the Coast Guard could stop it.

Now the fishermen on the Gulf Coast are getting hit again. Duncan has barely been able to get out to fish the areas he’s out on almost daily during this time of year. In a normal year he’d plan on fishing four months out of the year – and earning a year’s income in that time. Since the spill however, he’s already lost one month and expects to lose at least two more. With authorities opening and closing fishing areas on a case by case basis, he goes out when he can. Meanwhile, the bills pile up and he says, plainly, that he doesn’t know where he’s going to get the money to pay off the note on his boat. He hopes assistance will come from BP but hasn’t talked to any company representatives in the nearly two months since the spill. No one from the government has been by to offer their help either.

Much of the physical and financial help that arrived after Katrina never reached its intended targets. Many worry the same will happen again, with assistance going to those best prepared to navigate the complex levels of bureaucracy that come with a multi-billion dollar effort like the Road Home recovery program in Louisiana or now, the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund. In many cases, the most vulnerable people have the hardest time getting help.

Raising voices—again

“People in the Gulf Coast are famously resilient, but they are running out of options.   The response is way too slow for people who depend on the gulf for their livelihoods,”  said Minor Sinclair, director of Oxfam’s United States Regional Office.  “It was true with Katrina and it’s true now---communities need to be part of the solution and part of making sure it never happens again.” 

Oxfam is working to ensure the voices from those communities are heard, convening meetings with community members and state and federal officials along the coast, working to have Oxfam partners represented in the media coverage of this disaster, and bringing coastal residents to Washington, DC to testify before congress and meet with elected officials. While BP’s establishment of the $20-billion escrow account for those affected by the spill will help, there is for those affected by the spill, there is much work to be done to ensure that those funds actually make it to their intended recipients, unlike with previous recovery efforts, and that community voices are continually heard in the recovery process.

And while there is serious concern among those most directly affected by the disaster, there is still significant resolve to continue living their lives and come back from this as they have come back from so many disasters before.

“I think it’s serious what’s happening here,” said Duncan. “We don’t know the effect of this, nobody don’t know how long the effect is going to be. (But) whatever we got to do, we got to do.”